


You're Not Like Me

by KABN



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Famethyst mention, Gen, Holly Blue Agate mention, Light Angst, sub-par writing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-30
Updated: 2020-03-30
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:28:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,317
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23401507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KABN/pseuds/KABN
Summary: Taking place post-Rose Buds, Jasper reflects on her status as an undocumented tax evader.(Just a thing I threw together to feel vaguely productive.
Relationships: Amethyst & Jasper (Steven Universe)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 21





	You're Not Like Me

*******

Planet Earth had a limited amount of imminent celestial objects. Really just the one, a satellite barely noteworthy due to the derelict Diamond Base occupying it. So it was a given that any large objects in the sky would be something to pay attention to, but that alone was not enough to warrant her attention.

Yet when Jasper had refused to acknowledge the last giant floating arrival due to a resentment towards the color pink, she had missed out on seeing the spectacle of a clown cutting through the detestable group of former rebels and almost drowning the miserable planet in poison. So when there was another unexpected movement in the sky, the Quartz ex-soldier begrudgingly paid attention.

But only after launching three more boulders onto her pile, each landing with exceptional precision and completing the structure of a rough pyramid. She refused to let the dealings of the unworthy Diamond interrupt her routine.

The distracting object was no longer high enough in the sky to be spotted through a brief glimpse, but it didn’t require much deduction to figure out where the pink vessel would touch the ground. And once the purpose-deprived Gem leaped up oriented to glare towards the sea, her reasoning was indeed proven right.

It was a station. The stainless pink of its hull marked it as a product of either Era One, or Era Three. And the non-standard design along with the sheer quality of it indicated that it belonged to someone important in the court.

But Jasper did not need to consider or narrow down those options, because she recognized the vessel.

_Thud_

“...this has to be a joke.” The Quartz all but spat out several moments after landing back on the ground. 

Earth was a prison, one that defiled and corrupted. It held her captive in its crust five thousand years ago, and beneath its ocean very recently. The planet had proved itself to be a vile and sacrilegious enough to be the dishonorable exile of a failed perfect warrior like her.

So what were the odds that the only other prison deemed fit for her in the whole wide cosmos, one that mocked and wasted, would reappear before her after all this time.

Pink Diamond’s Zoo, where all remaining Earth Quartzes had been sent off to dull away after their utter failure. And if it hadn’t been for her strength, it would have held her captive for those five thousand years instead.

***

The carefully piled pyramid had long lost its shape, but her knuckles still itched to tear through the scattered remains. Aching for the dull satisfaction of stiff repetition.

_Crack_

_Crssh_

Despite her carefully manufactured irreverence, Jasper was tense even after the Station departed. Any moment now, it felt like she would hear the crack of her former Agate’s whip approaching to reclaim the deformed stray Quartz. After all, she had only been allowed to leave because Yellow Diamond recognized her exceptional worth as a soldier, and Era 3 barely had any need for those.

_Bwoom_

_Krssh_

There was no longer a scarcity in Injector Fluid with Pink Diamond essence once again available. They could easily afford to throw even the most promising, perfectly cut gem to gather dust along with defects, runts, and off-colors.

_Sfff_

Hilariously, she felt frustrated that no such thing came to pass. Of course _he_ wouldn’t even take his reign seriously enough to remove dissidents.

_Cfff_

“I think those rocks are ready to tap out, dude. It’s mostly gravel at this point.”

“Raghh!” She ended up kicking up the accumulated rubble into a thick cloud of dust as she whirled around, covering her with disgusting Earth dirt as if to rub insult to injury. “You’re still here? What, did even Holly Blue not want you on that excuse of a trash dump?”

The botched Amethyst didn’t react with anger or indignity like she would have two years ago, looking mildly amused instead. And the dark shaded earth visor she was wearing for some frivolous reason managed to make the look even more insufferable.

“Heyo. Maybe you did not see the zoo-cruise ship drop by, but you missed the Famethyst reunion.” The runt, as usual, stood right at the edge of her claimed borders where the ‘grass’ earthlings ended. “I would have called you over myself, but the invitation was already plenty obvious and I figured you’d be a no-show anyway. It was too much of a good vibes event for you. No hard feeling eh, sis?”

“Stop calling me that.”

“Would you rather me call you cousin? Cuz? Nah, I already lumped Skinny and the others into the sister group, gotta be a consistent and responsible gem for a new Era and all that.” She shrugged, a bit rigidly to avoid spilling the contents of the pair of glass liquid containers she was carrying around. “And we Primes are already ‘too cliquey’ as is, gotta have unity yo.”

Jasper grunted with annoyance, but approached the runt to receive her periodic delivery of pre-tattered cloaks anyway, folded into an ironically neat stack by her side. “I don’t know what most of that means, and I don’t care either.”

“Yeah, tough luck.” Amethyst walked off, briefly looking around before spotting one of the thick half-destroyed trees surrounding the reclusive Quartz’s territory. “Could you hold these for a sec, ah nevermind.”

Having received the delivery of cloth to explosively rip apart for intimidation purposes, Jasper considered to simply retreat to her outpost, like she often did in response to these transparent attempts at socializing, or whatever they were supposed to be. But decided against that… if only to confirm that there weren’t any Agates around sent to round up defects and deserters. 

Amethyst first moved to kick at the tree, only to abandon the motion when it proved to be too shaky of an action for her cocktail glasses. Instead, she shapeshifted a third arm and used it to retrieve her whip, before cleaving the trunk into three. Arranging the severed pieces into makeshift benches and the stump into a table.

Jasper had to admit it was an okay enough display for someone who refused to keep up with her training.

“There.” The purple gem laid out the pair of glasses onto the neatly flattened trunk, before plopping down onto one of the logs. “Mind taking a seat? You missed out on the actual Famethyst toast, can still take part in spirit though. Get it? Spirit?”

“Does your Diamond know that I did not submit the paperwork on abandoning my rank under the Yellow Court?”

“You do know that those are mostly for sending severance packages or reparations, right? Not for drafting? And maybe for tax reasons for the human government stuff but you seem to have gone for the full homeless lifestyle.”

With that cleared out, the larger soldier gem turned around to leave without another word.

“Well, figured as much. Sorry Carnelian, I tried as promised.” Amethyst sighed, shaking her head before taking her glass to gulp down the fruity blue inside in one go. “Don’t know when the fam might come by again, but you’re still welcome to join in whenever that happens.”

“Stop suggesting that I should ever associate with those failures!” She shouted as she shot a glare over her shoulder, just in time to see the runt raise the empty glass in a mock toast. “I managed to escape from that prison sentence while they didn’t. I’m nothing like them!”

“Sure, sure. What was it? You could have been them, but you’re not like them? Anyway, cheers and smell ya later sis!”

Jasper felt tempted to kick the stump and the remaining glass into the horizon, maybe even into the leisurely retreating purple gem. Unfortunately, unlike the fraudulent Diamond, this one didn’t have the potential to make the effort worth it.

***

She punched into the cliffside one last time before leaping back down onto the ground. There, it was all ready now. Then judging her position satisfactory, Jasper stomped just hard enough to unleash the artificial rockslide upon her.

It started with an initial shower of relatively small pieces of debris, which she kicked and punched into dust before they could hit the ground. Then the boulders came tumbling down with an avalanche, forcing her to spindash around the base of the cliff to catch them all before their impact. And as she was about to face the final avalanche… the Quartz glimpsed a fist-sized clump of dirt whizz by her ear, reaching the ground before she could intercept it.

She froze, before going slack. With its main objective failed, there was no point in continuing the exercise.

There was an odd comfort as she dug herself from under the rubble that buried her moments later, a confirmation that she wasn’t frail or feeble. But it gnawed at her, the idea that the scars of the corruption were more than just cosmetic.

Would her unmarred self be able to catch all of the raining projectiles without letting any slip by? Was her concentration reduced? Was she physically as well as mentally weaker, smaller, lesser, even if marginally? Imperfect, just like the many other Beta Kindergarten gems? Or had she always been this dull, just ignorant without an explicit reason to look for it?

Jasper growled in frustration. She was now covered in dust even more thoroughly, and she could even feel tiny particles all over her Gem, which did not cease no matter how she shifted her form around. 

“Just great.” She grabbed the cloak hanging off a branch as she skulked away from the training site, using some of the cloth to wipe at her Gem, getting rid of as much of Earth dirt as possible. The rough material did not sway or flutter like her old Homeworld capes used to, but that was a privilege she could make do without. Sub-par materials for a sub-par Quartz, still better than the stuff she had to wear under Holly Blue Agate.

...it still felt bitter to remember. The Earth Quartzes receiving their new specifications for appearance modifiers, and most taking to the new blue uniforms with ease or even with glee, while Jasper barely restrained herself from violently protesting against shedding the Pink insignia.

_But there were tears too weren’t there. Others to mourn and rage for our Diamond._

More insulting however was that the runt who laid dormant through the whole war got to remain with their Diamond for several millennia, and didn’t even know to appreciate it! The only ones to know what it was like to lose their Diamond, to know the betrayal and confusion of the truth behind Rose Quartz’s identity, and the lie it turned their birthwar into were… fine. And she would have still been with them if her emergence had gone even slightly differently. She would have been with her Diamond if she had come out late.

She would have been, could have been, but wasn’t. 

“Instead I was strong!” Jasper howled out in frustration. 

_Was_. Maybe she had been, before her corruption. Maybe she had been, as Malachite. But now...

“I _am_ strong, and that’s all that MATTERS!” She tore the cloak off with a satisfying tearing sound, as if to prove the point. Then briefly wondered if arguing against nothing was an instability left behind by her corruption, a vestigial mental stain instead of a physical one.

Maybe it was, maybe it wasn’t. Either wouldn’t make her feel any better, so she discarded the useless thought, she didn’t need it. She didn’t need anything, and she didn’t have anything. It was perfect.

She had nothing… except, the course tatters clutched in her hands. Except a botched Amethyst’s charity.

Was that a runt thing? The Carnelian from her old station also went around stockpiling the fruit meant for Zoo consumption and handed them out to anyone who might even potentially entertain her. The hideous blue drink stagnating on that stump was probably the result of that.

...five thousand years past and yet it was more of the same. Except she was here now, unlike those who remained because they weren’t the Perfect Jasper.

_Don’t know when the fam might come by again, but you’re still welcome to join in whenever that happens._

So maybe she didn’t have nothing after all.

Letting the faded patches of fabric drift away from her slack grip, Jasper strode over to the stump she had been pointedly ignoring, startling away the birds that had been partaking the concoction of synthetic fermented fruit.

There wasn’t much left of it now, barely enough to be a sample, and it seemed to be even less in the hand that easily encompassed the glass.

Yet even still, she could taste the still-familiar tinge of the synthetic fruit beneath it all, the scent briefly taking her back to the Carnellian’s cubby hole, filled with several types of smuggled fruit as the demure Quartz toiled to mix and match some novel-tasting beverage.

Jasper retreated to her cave, after crushing the glass to dust in her grip due to obligation.

***

“Is my cubby still there?” She asked when Amethyst visited again. 

“Yep.” The already-cheery gem chirped back, with way too much joy. “I would say the zoo garden makes for much better living quarters, but I guess habits die hard.”

“Such a waste of space.” She turned away with a dismissive grunt, somewhat successfully ignoring the insufferable smug t-posing the diminutive quartz would haunt the borders with for the rest of her self-appointed visited hours. 

And yet much like how her denouncement of fusion did not diminish the power that had bested her several times, neither did her attitude negate the odd, nostalgic feeling of comfort her ‘sister’ managed to infect her with.

Maybe she was nothing like them, at least not anymore, but at least she still had a place somewhere, despite everything.


End file.
